Knitting Symposium

I paid an invoice today and found it a bit weird to be totally excited about shelling out cash. But I am excited about confirming that I will be going to the Small Knits Symposium.

If you have even briefly looked at my designs you would notice that I am all about small projects. I am an instant gratification kinda girl and it shows. And by “instant” I mean in the context of knitting where instant actually can take up to a couple of months.
Semantics aside, I really prefer to knit accessories and other wee items. It allows me to experiment with interesting new techniques and see if they are to my taste. In theory that will allow me to know if I am ready to commit to using the technique in a larger project, but in reality it only lets me know if I want to use the technique again in another small project – because I am not even fooling myself.

This symposium is going to be an opportunity to hang out with other like minded knitters. Knitters who aren’t going to try and talk me into working on a sweater. And of course to take classes. There are going to be classes with Lorilee Beltman and Sivia Harding and a talk from Cat Bordhi!

So, if you are (or can be) in the rough area of Bloomington, Indiana on April 24 – 27 it would be awesome to be able to hang out with you and get our small project on!

Bonus points – which class(es) should I take? Odds are anything I learn there will turn up in a new design. What would y’all like to see me take? Let me know in the comments.

ps: When I was previewing this my pop-up blocker said it blocked a pop-up. If  you get a pop-up please let me know so I can further investigate it. My apologies if it happened.

SAFF (part two)

When last we saw our intrepid adventurer … There was yarn, lots of yarn. I don’t think I will ever get tired of yarn.

Both The Unique Sheep and Dragonfly Fibers were in the big arena and I spent  most of my time there on Saturday (they had heat and food) but if you remember we started out the day in the barn and that is where we finished out the day.

I had been forbidden to purchase anything until I had seen everything. Having seen everything I was ready to do some damage. I made a bee-line directly to The Ross Farm set up.

This man is proud of his sheep, and he should be

It is out of my normal comfort zone, but this yarn really seized my imagination. Completely un-dyed, the range of natural colors was stunning. This farm is dedicated to preserving rare and heritage breeds of sheep including Leicester Longwools. While some of the yarns are blends of different sheep they raise, other skeins are not only breed specific, but actually sheep specific. Like the yarn is named after the sheep that the wool came from.

How awesome is that?

I spent a goodly amount of time chatting with these dedicated farmer/artisans and I really hope that I can do justice to the yarn that I acquired from them. It is beautiful, textural and interesting and I am going to have to spend some time in the “getting to know you” stage with this yarn. Not to leave you hanging, here is a shot of one of the gorgeous samples they have on display:

The Qunita Cowl, and gorgeous yarn

Next on my plan of attack was The Copper Corgi. I have been eyeballing The Copper Corgi ads on Ravelry for some time now and have friends who rave about their yarn, but wanted to see it in person. It is necessary to see it live to be able to choose between all of the stunning colors.

How do you choose?

It was hard. Really hard. Once I manage to get photos of my loot you will see what I chose. It rocks. Rich colors and stunning variegated is what you can expect from this dyer. One thing I really loved was the depth of color in the more “neutral” yarns. Brown can be – eh, brown or it can be ooooooh, brown. The same with grays. I was also impressed by the lighter end of her range, how something can be so light and have such depth at the same time is beyond me.

Another bonus? They are based out of Savannah, GA – so for me that is kinda local. Yay local! I have been noodling on trying to drum up some other GA based designers and dyers and seeing if we can cook up something that is all about the Peach State. Of course, I prefer pecans. With peaches. Peaches and Pecans, how could you go wrong?

 

All in all SAFF was a wonderful experience. I went with friends who, over the course of the weekend became good friends. We bought yarn, ate delicious food and explored the awesomeness that is Asheville. What more could you want?